Identifying web pages of the world wide web having relevance to a first file

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for providing related web pages are disclosed. One method includes identifying a plurality of web pages, wherein the plurality of web pages each have a relationship with the first file, wherein the world wide web provides a platform for sharing web pages, and wherein each web page includes a document or information resource that is suitable for the world wide web and is accessible through a web browser. The method further includes generating a list of inquiries based on the plurality of web pages, providing, the list of inquiries to at least one author of the first file, receiving from the at least one author at least one response to the list of inquiries, selecting a subset of the plurality of web pages based on the at least one response, and storing information related to the selected subset of the plurality of web pages.

FIELD OF EMBODIMENTS

The described embodiments relate generally to search results. Moreparticularly, the described embodiments relate to methods, and systemsfor identifying web pages of a world wide web having relevance to afirst file.

BACKGROUND

Search engines use a variety of search techniques to present web pagesto users based on one or more search terms that are provided by theusers. The relevance of the search results relate closely to the searchterms. Selection of a web page from the search results in the searchengine provides a list of web pages related to the selected web page.Users who like to read more about the related subject matter use theresults suggested by the author or the search engine itself. Manyauthors suggest related web pages that are very valuable to users alsoreferred to as citations. The suggested list however is older than theselected web page. For web pages published after the publication date ofthe selected web page, users have to rely on the search engine toprovide a relevant list. The web pages suggested by search engines arebased on the search engine's algorithm. The search engine generallyproduces a large number of web pages that include some irrelevantresults and are difficult to sort for relevant web pages. Many suggestedweb pages are not relevant to the user. Relevant results are not alwaysprovided.

It is desirable to have methods and systems for providing an up-to-datelist of web pages related to the selected web page relevant to thesubject matter of the selected web page.

SUMMARY

One embodiment includes a method of identifying one or more web pages inthe World Wide Web related to a first file. The method includesidentifying a plurality of web pages within the world wide web, whereinthe plurality of web pages each have a relationship with the first file,wherein the world wide web provides a platform for sharing web pages,and wherein each web page includes a document or information resourcethat is suitable for the world wide web and is accessible through a webbrowser. The method further includes generating, by a system server, alist of inquiries based on the plurality of web pages, providing, by thesystem server, the list of inquiries to at least one author of the firstfile, receiving from the at least one author at least one response tothe list of inquiries, selecting a subset of the plurality of web pagesbased on the at least one response, and storing information related tothe selected subset of the plurality of web pages for access if thefirst file is selected.

Another embodiment includes providing the list of enquiries to more thanone author. In another embodiment, a different list of inquiries isprovided to a first author and other authors. The identified web pagesare ranked based on the responses from all the authors and a subset ofweb pages is selected.

Other aspects and advantages of the described embodiments will becomeapparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example theprinciples of the described embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In the following figures like reference numbers are used to refer tolike elements. Although the following figures depict various examples,the one or more implementations are not limited to the examples depictedin the figures.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system of providingrelated web pages from the World Wide Web, where an author providesinput to selecting/ranking a subset of web pages.

FIG. 2 shows an example list of inquiries presented to the authors.

FIG. 3 is another example list of inquiries presented to the authors.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system of providingrelated web pages, where more than one author provides input toselecting/ranking a subset of web pages.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system of providingrelated web pages in the world wide web, where more than one author isinvolved in the selecting/ranking a subset of web pages and more thanone list of inquiries is generated.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system of providingrelated web pages, where an author provides input to selecting/ranking asubset of web pages, where a search yields a first file.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart that includes the steps of an example of a methodof providing related web pages in the World Wide Web, where one or moreauthors provide input to selecting/ranking a subset of web pages.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart that includes the steps of an example of a methodof providing related web pages in a network, where more than one list ofinquiries is generated and more than one author is involved in theselecting/ranking a subset of web pages.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of an example of a method of providing a list ofrelated web pages, where an author is involved in the selecting/rankinga subset of web pages, where a search yields a first file.

FIG. 10 shows an example of a block diagram of a system of providingrelated web pages to a search result in the World Wide Web.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The described embodiments are embodied in methods, and systems forproviding a set of web pages to a user in the World Wide Web, where theset of web pages have relevance to the first file from a search orretrieval of a record identifying the first file.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of system 100, a system ofproviding related web pages from the World Wide Web to a first file,where an author is involved in selecting/ranking a subset of web pages.

For at least some embodiments, the World Wide Web provides a platformfor sharing web pages, wherein each web page includes a document orinformation resource that is suitable for the world wide web and isaccessible through a web browser. The World Wide Web contains severalcollections of documents of electronic text containing knowledge createdby humans such as research papers, blog posts, web pages, videos, orvideo transcripts. Users can upload web pages and share the web pagesimmediately without the need to email or transport using portablestorage drives. The World Wide Web stores web pages or documents ofdifferent file formats not limited to word documents, power pointpresentations, portable web page format (pdf), and spreadsheets. In oneembodiment of the World Wide Web, a user may contribute to the WorldWide Web. In an embodiment, any user may edit a file similar to a wiki.

In several embodiments, a first file is a file in the World Wide Web, afile whose URL is shared by the user on a social network such as Twitteror Facebook, a file on the disk drive of the user system, or a file onthe internet, or a file on any other file system identified to generatea list of related web pages. The first file may be a recently added fileto the World Wide Web, or identified due a large number of web pagesadded to the World Wide Web in the same subject matter, or identifiedautomatically for a periodic update of related web pages, or identifiedby any other method. It is to be understood that for variousembodiments, the first file includes at least one of a web page, adocument, an article, a social profile, a message, a message thread, aconversation, a video file, an audio file, or a picture file. It is alsoto be understood that this is not an exhaustive list.

The World Wide Web is updated constantly as users add web pages. As thenumber of web pages grows, existence of the file may not be known tomany users if relevant hyperlinks from other web pages are not created.Creating hyperlinks is a manual task and often few web pages are linkedtogether in the World Wide Web. Search engines provide access to the webpages that are not linked.

Many authors list references or citations in their web pages. The webpages referenced by authors are generally more relevant than the machinegenerated references, but have a publication date earlier than thecurrent file. Unlike machine generated references using an algorithmrunning on a computer, the judgment of authors in selecting referenceweb pages is valuable to other readers due to the author's intrinsicunderstanding and motivation to identify materials related to a file aor web page. In general, an author or expert has greater interest andmore precise understanding of the subject matter discussed in theauthor's file or web page compared to other readers. In the describedembodiments, an author is a sole author, co-author, an expert on thesubject matter or a team member or anyone who has write-privilege to thefirst file.

Search engines list related web pages that are published before or aftera file has been published. When a file is selected from the searchresults, a set of related web pages is generally presented by the searchengine. The set of related web pages are based on some criteria such asthe number of hyperlinks a file has, common subject matter, and thefrequency of certain phrases. The number of hyperlinks is one of thecriteria for search engines to list a file at the top of the related webpages. If a file has no hyperlinks pointing to the file itself, thesearch engine may not list a file at the top though the file may berelevant. The criteria for suggesting a list of related web pages can beimproved by using an expert or author to recommend the web pages throughhyperlinks. The process of semi-automating the presentation of a list ofrelated web pages is described in the embodiments.

A set of web pages related to the first file is identified in World WideWeb 110 by server 120. In one embodiment, identifying in World Wide Web110 includes server 120 identifying a set of web pages related to thefirst file and receiving the list of identified web pages. In anotherembodiment, identifying in World Wide Web 110 includes server 120receiving the list of identified web pages. The set of identified webpages 110 can be the output of natural language search, or a textanalysis, or from collaborative filtering, or any other searchtechnique. In several embodiments, the search can be based on a stringof words, or a picture or an author. The set of web pages is derivedbased on a relationship with the first file. In several embodiments, therelationship can be any one of or some of author of the first file,author of the references cited in the first file, frequently used nounphrases, publication date later than the first file, a specificpublication date, or a publication date after a specific date. Web pagespublished from an author tend to have common subject matter. Frequentlyused noun-phrases in the first file are also keywords for searchingrelated web pages. However, the occurrence of any specific noun phrasein the web may change with technology or over a period of time. Manysearch engines may not have the intelligence to recognize the changingnoun phrases over a period. In some embodiments, the full-text of thefile is used for searching to yield more relevant related web pages. Webpages with publication date later than the first file are valuable asusers are generally interested in recent updates.

In an example, a search engine operating on server 120 uses ENTREZ® APIto identify bibliography of post-publication updates to papers inPubMed®, based on noun phrases in full-text. PubMed® is a free databaseof references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics.ENTREZ® is a powerful search engine that allows users to search healthsciences database at the National Center for Biotechnology Informationwebsite. The algorithm used to generate the search terms using ENTREZ®API automatically extracts noun phrases from a file using naturallanguage processing tools and ranks them by the number of occurrences inthe file compared to the number of occurrences on the web. In anotherembodiment a search Application Programming Interface (API), such YahooBuild Your Own Search Service® (BOSS) may be used.

In an embodiment, citation-validation is used to generate the list ofrelated web pages 110. Citation-validation is defined as search resultsfrom queries where the queries are present in one or more citationsprovided by the author. Citation-validated search terms improve therelevance of the search results compared to search terms that are notpresent in the citations. The citations can written by the same authorsas the file or written by different authors.

Server 120 generates a list of inquiries based on the set of web pagesrelated to the first file. In an embodiment, the list of inquiriesincludes questions asking the author whether the web pages are relevantto the first file, and the search terms used in keyword search ornoun-phrase used to select the file.

FIG. 2 shows example 200, an inquiry generated using keyword search inthe World Wide Web. Selection of keyword search results displays relatedweb pages. Example 200 shows the related web pages from keywordsearches. In example 200, 202 is the title of the first file. The firstquestion summarizes the inquiry about relevant web pages. 204 is a checkbox next to a related file selected by a search engine. 206 is thepublication date of the related file. 208 is the search term used toidentify the related file. 210 is an input box for the author to enterthe reason for the file being relevant. 212 shows the author whoselected the profile as relevant. 214 shows the institution of theauthor. 216 shows the relationship tag, 218 shows the email address ofthe author, 220 shows the address and 222 shows the affiliation of theauthor. In one embodiment, the identity of the senders who selected eachmessage thread is revealed to the user by displaying meta-data such asthe sender's name, address, or contact information.

FIG. 3 shows example 300 showing related citations on the World Wide Weband display the web pages published after the first file. In anembodiment, related citations on World Wide Web are derived fromtext-analysis of files, and a single ranked list of web pages that maybe related. For each word or term in each file, a numeric weight iscomputed based on the number of times the word occurs in the file andthe number of files that the term occurs in the World Wide Web. Thenumeric-weight is used to find the most similar pairs of files. 312 isthe title of the web page obtained from related citations. In anotherembodiment, Google Scholar indexes the web pages and includes “automatichyperlinks” or “related web pages” functions in place of “relatedcitations.”

For an embodiment, again referring to FIG. 1, an author 130 is notifiedof the list of inquiries generated by server 120. In the describedembodiments, the notification can be sent electronically. In anembodiment, the notification email contains a link to a webpage thatcontains the list of inquiries. In another embodiment, the emailcontains the text of the inquiries. In another embodiment, thenotification is sent by an email or message on a social network such asFacebook® or instant message system. In another embodiment, thenotification is sent from a web-based interface such as Jive), orLinkedIn® or Google Docs®. In an embodiment, the author completes theinquiry by selecting one or more web pages related to the first file inthe opinion of the author, and sends the response to the server usingany of the notification methods described above. In an embodiment, theauthor includes the relationship of one or more web pages such aswhether the web page complements the first file, or summarizes the firstfile or contradicts the first file. Server 120 receives the response tothe inquiry from the author and processes the response. The responseincludes a selection of web pages related to the first file. In anembodiment, the response includes a ranked list of the related webpages, identifying the relevance of the related web pages to the firstfile.

In an embodiment, web pages selected by the author are ranked higherthan the web pages not selected by the author. A subset of the rankedweb pages is selected. In another embodiment, all web pages selected byfirst file author 130 are selected. In another embodiment, a certainnumber of ranked web pages are selected. Server 120 creates a hyperlinkbetween the first file and the subset of selected/ranked web pages inthe World Wide Web. The hyperlink influences future search results ofthe engine when the first file or any of the subset of web pages isinvolved. Server 120 stores information about the subset of related webpages in a storage system 140. In an embodiment, the informationincludes one or more of hyperlinks to the related web pages, ranking ofthe web pages, the author of the first file, and metadata of the webpages. In the described embodiments, hyperlinks are references to webpages that connect the users to another file or a portion of the file.In an embodiment, file storage system 120 resides on server 120. Inanother embodiment, storage system 140 is a separate file storagesystem. When a user (150) selects the file identifier from the searchresults or any other listing, server 120 retrieves information about theselected/ranked related web pages. In an embodiment, the user ispresented with information about the related web pages shown in FIG. 2or FIG. 3. In one embodiment, the identity of the authors who selectedthe web page is revealed to the user by displaying meta-data such as theauthor's name, institution, and qualifications.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an embodiment of system 400, a system ofproviding related web pages, where more than one author provides inputto selecting/ranking a subset of web pages. A set of web pages relatedto the first file 110 is identified in the World Wide Web by server 420.The set of web pages is derived based on a relationship such as author,frequently use noun-phrases, and common subject matter with the firstfile. Server 420 generates a list of inquiries based on the set of webpages related to the first file. In an embodiment, the list of inquiriesincludes questions asking the authors whether the related web pages arerelevant to the first file as determined by the search engine.

The list of inquiries generated by server 420 is notified to the firstauthor 430. In the described embodiments, a first author is the authorof the first file, an expert on the subject matter or a team member oranyone who has write-privilege to the first file. The list of inquiriesis also notified to second authors 431. In the described embodiments,the second author is one or more authors other than the first author.The first and second authors are notified electronically as described inconjunction with FIG. 1. Server 420 receives responses from the firstauthor as well as the second authors. The response includes a selectionof web pages related to the first file. In an embodiment, the responseincludes a ranked list of the related web pages, identifying therelevance of the related web pages to the first file. In an embodiment,web pages are ranked based on the number of selections from the firstand the second authors. In an embodiment, the web pages selected by thefirst author are ranked higher than the web pages selected by secondauthors. In another embodiment, all responses are ranked with the sameweight. In another embodiment, a certain number of ranked web pages areselected. In another embodiment, all web pages selected by the firstauthor and the second authors are selected.

Information about the selected/ranked web pages is stored in a storagesystem 140. User selection of the first file identifier 150 from searchresults or any other listing is sent to server 420. In severalembodiments, server 420 retrieves information about the selected/rankedlist of related web pages from the file storage system before presentingto the user as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. In one embodiment, theidentity of the authors who selected each web page is revealed to theuser by displaying meta-data such as the author's name, institution, andqualifications.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an embodiment of system 500, a system ofproviding related web pages, where more than one author provides inputto selecting/ranking a subset of web pages and more than one list ofinquiries is generated. One or more web pages related to a first fileare identified in the World Wide Web (similar to the description inconjunction with FIG. 1). A list of inquiries is generated by server 520based on the web pages related to the first file, in an embodiment, thelist of inquiries includes questions asking the relevance of the relatedfile to the first file. The list of inquiries is notified to a firstauthor 550. A first response is received from first author 550 by server520. The first response includes selection of web pages that are relatedto the first file in the opinion of first author 550. In an embodiment,the first response includes a ranked list of the related web pages,identifying the relevance of the related web pages to the first file. Asecond list of inquiries is generated based on the first response. Thesecond list of inquiries includes questions about the selection of theweb pages related to the first file by the first author. In anembodiment, the second list of inquiries includes the related web pagesand the search terms used to identify the related file or thenoun-phrases used to identify the web pages.

Second authors 551 are notified electronically (by methods discussed inconjunction with FIG. 1) with the second list of inquiries. Server 520receives the second response from second authors and analyzes the secondresponse. The second response further refines the machine generatedsearch results. The second response includes a selection of web pagesrelated to the first file. In an embodiment, the second responseincludes a ranked list of the related web pages, identifying therelevance of the related web pages to the first file. Server 520 ranks arelated file based on the number of selections from second authors. Inan embodiment, a subset of the ranked related web pages is selected.

In an embodiment, server 520 generates a questionnaire based onidentified web pages related to the first file 110. The questionnaireincludes the opinion of one or more authors of the identified web pagesabout the selection as a related web page to the first file. Thequestionnaire is notified to the authors of identified web pages 552.Server 520 receives response3 from the authors of identified web pages552. In an embodiment, server 520 ranks an identified web page based onthe number of selections from second authors 551 and the selection fromthe author of identified web page 552. A subset of the ranked relatedfiles is selected.

In an embodiment, all web pages selected by second authors are selectedfor ranking. In another embodiment, related web pages receiving acertain rank are selected. Information related to the selected/rankedfiles is stored in storage system 140. In an embodiment, the informationrelated to the selected/ranked web page includes one or more ofhyper-link to the selected web page, the author of the selected webpage, the title of the selected web page, the authors, the opinion ofthe author of the selected file, opinion of the authors of the firstfile, institution of the author, the published date, and theselection/rank date. When a user selects the first file identifier 553,server 520 retrieves the information related to the selected related webpages from storage system 140. In several embodiments, informationrelated to the subset of selected/ranked web pages is presented to theuser as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. In one embodiment, the identity ofthe authors who selected each file is presented to the user bydisplaying meta-data such as the author's name, institution, andqualifications. In another embodiment, information about the opinion ofthe author of the selected web page is presented to the user.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of system 600, an embodiment of a system ofproviding related web pages, where an author is involved in theselecting/ranking a subset of web pages, where a search yields a firstfile. Server 620 searches for a first file in the World Wide Web. Thesearch engine outputs a list of web pages 610 related to the first filebased on search techniques described in conjunction with FIG. 1. Server620 generates a list of inquiries based on the list of related webpages. The list of inquiries includes questions whether each of the webpages from search results are relevant to the first file.

The list of inquiries is notified to the author of the file 130. Aresponse is received from the author. The response includes a selectionof web pages related to the first file and optionally the reason forrelevancy in the author's opinion. In an embodiment, the responseincludes a ranked list of the related web pages, identifying therelevance of the related web pages to the first file. Server 620 ranksthe related web pages based on the response from the author. A subset ofthe ranked related web pages is selected. Server 620 stores informationabout the subset of selected/ranked web pages in a file storage system160. When a second search yields a plurality of search resultscontaining the information identifying first file 650, server 620,retrieves the stored information about the subset of selected/ranked webpages and influences the ranking of the first file relative the searchresults when presenting the search results to the user.

In one embodiment, the identity of the authors who selected each webpage is revealed to the user by displaying meta-data such as theauthor's name, institution, and qualifications.

Methods

FIG. 7 is a flowchart that includes the steps of an example of a methodof providing related web pages, where art author is involved in theselecting/ranking a subset of web pages. In step 702, the World Wide Webis searched to identify one or more web pages that are related to afirst file. In an embodiment, the search is based on any of or all ofnatural language search, machine language search, text analysis, orcollaborative filtering. The World Wide Web is searched for keywordsthat are automatically generated by the server. In an embodiment, thekeywords may be the author/authors of the first file, frequentlyappearing words, authors of cited references in the first file, nounphrases based on subject matter, and title. In an embodiment, the searchis conducted on the full-text of the file. In another embodiment, onlythe abstract and the title are searched. In an embodiment, only webpages published after the first file's published date are searched. Inan embodiment, the algorithm used to generate the search terms usingENTREZ™ API automatically extracts noun phrases from the first fileusing natural language processing tools and ranks them by the number ofoccurrences in the file compared to the number of occurrences on theweb. In art embodiment, citation-validation is used to generate the listof related web pages to improve the quality and relevance of the searchresults.

In step 704, the server automatically generates a list of inquires basedon the search results of step 702 to access the relevancy of the searchresult. The list of inquiries includes questions about each of therelated web pages. In art embodiment, inquiries list the title of one ormore web pages identified in the search, the publication date, and thesearch terms used to identify the file. Other embodiments may not listall the above items. FIG. 2 and FIG. 3, show an example of the list ofinquiries presented to authors, in step 706, the list of inquiries isnotified to at least one author of the first file. In the describedembodiments, the notification can be sent electronically by an email, ora message on a social network or instant message. Web based interface isanother method of notifying the author.

In step 708, method 700 receives at least one response to the list ofinquiries from the authors of the first file. The response includes aselection whether any of the web pages are relevant to the first fileand if any of the web pages are relevant, a selection of the relevantfile and optionally the reason for the file being relevant. In anembodiment, the response includes a list of the related web pages,identifying the relevance of the related web pages to the first file. Instep 710, method 700 analyzes the responses from the authors. Therelated web pages are ranked based on the number of selections receivedfrom the authors. A subset of the ranked related web pages is selected.In an embodiment, all web pages selected by the authors are selected. Inanother embodiment, a certain number of ranked web pages are selected.In another embodiment, web pages receiving certain rank are selected.Method 700 creates a hyperlink between the first file and theselected/ranked subset of web pages. The hyperlink can influence thesearch results in the World Wide Web when the first file is involved. Instep 712, information about the selected/ranked web pages related to thefirst file is stored. The information about the selected/ranked webpages includes at least one of hyperlinks to the web pages in the WorldWide Web, the rank of each file in the selected subset, metadata of theweb pages. The information may be stored on the World Wide Web or anyother storage system.

Steps 702-712 are performed to generate a list of selected/ranked webpages that may be more relevant than the machine generated references.In an embodiment, steps 702-712 are performed once. In anotherembodiment, steps 702-712 are performed at certain fixed intervals. Inanother embodiment, events such as addition of a certain number of webpages or a manual intervention may trigger steps 702-712.

In step 714, method 700 receives a selection of the first fileidentifier or information about the first file from a user. The file orinformation about the file may be selected from search results or from alist of web pages. The server retrieves the stored information about theselected/ranked web pages in step 716. In several embodiments,information about the related web pages is displayed to the user in step718 as shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. Steps 714-718 are performed when auser selects the first file for display. In one embodiment, the identityof the authors who selected each web page is revealed to the user bydisplaying meta-data such as the author's name, institution, andqualifications.

In an embodiment, each of the steps of method 700 may be a distinctstep. In other embodiments, method 700 may not have all of the abovesteps and/or may have other steps in addition to or instead of thoselisted above. The steps of method 700 may be performed in another order.Subsets of the steps listed above as part of method 700 may be used toform their own method. In an embodiment, there could be multipleinstances of method 700.

FIG. 8 is an example of a flowchart that includes the steps of method800 of providing a list of related web pages, where more than one listof inquiries is generated and more than one author is involved in theselecting/ranking a subset of web pages. In this method, at least twodistinct lists of inquiries are generated, the first list of inquiriesis sent to the first author and the second list of inquiries is sent tothe other authors. The second list of inquiries is generated based onthe response from the first author.

In method 800, a set of one or more web pages related to a first file isidentified in step 802. In step 804, a first list of inquiries about theset of web pages identified in step 802 is generated. The first list ofinquires includes questions whether each of the identified web pages arerelated to the first file and optionally why they are related. In thedescribed embodiment, steps 802 and 804 are similar to steps 702 and 704respectively. The first list of inquiries is notified to a first authorof the first file in step 806. A first response to the first list ofinquiries is received in step 808. The response includes a selection ofweb pages related to the first file and optionally the reason for theselection. In step 810, a second list of inquires based on the responsefrom the first author about the relevance of the set of web pages to thefirst files is generated. In an embodiment, the second list of inquiriesincludes a list of web pages selected by the first author for selectingweb pages related to the first file. In an embodiment, the second listof inquires includes questions whether the second author agrees with thefirst author. In another embodiment, the second list of inquiriesincludes the reason for a file being relevant to the first file. One ormore second authors of the first file are notified with the second listof inquiries in step 812. In step 814, one or more second response isreceived from the second authors 551. In an embodiment, a questionnaireis generated based on the list of identified web pages in step 815A. Thequestionnaire includes whether the identified web pages is related tothe first file. The questionnaire is notified to one or more authors ofthe plurality of identified web pages. In step 815B, server 520 receivesresponse from one or more authors of the plurality of identified webpages.

In step 816, the second response from the second authors is analyzed. Inan embodiment, response from one or more authors of the identified webpages is analyzed. In an embodiment, web pages are ranked based on thenumber of selections from the second authors. In another embodiment, webpages are ranked based on the response from authors of identified webpages in addition to the response from second authors. In an embodiment,the response includes identifying the relevance of the related web pagesto the first file. A subset of the ranked web pages is selected. In anembodiment, all web pages selected by the second authors are selected.In another embodiment, a certain number of ranked web pages or web pageswith a certain rank are selected. Method 800 creates a hyperlink betweenthe first file and the selected/ranked subset of web pages. Thehyperlink can influence the search results in the World Wide Web whenthe first file is involved. In step 818, information about theselected/ranked subset of web pages related to the first file is storedin a file storage system.

Steps 802-818 are performed to generate a list of selected/ranked webpages that may be more relevant than the machine generated references.In an embodiment, steps 802-818 are performed once. In anotherembodiment, steps 802-818 are performed at certain fixed intervals. Inanother embodiment, events such as addition of a certain number of webpages or a manual intervention may trigger steps 802-818.

In step 820, the server receives a selection of the first fileidentifier. Information about the related web pages of the first filestored in a file storage system is retrieved in step 822. Informationabout the list of related web pages is presented to the user in step824. Steps 820-824 are performed when a user selects the first file fordisplay. Steps 818, 820, 822, and 824 are similar to steps 712, 714,716, and 718 respectively. In an embodiment, each of the steps of method800 may be a distinct step. In other embodiments, method 800 may nothave all of the above steps and/or may have other steps in addition toor instead of those listed above. The steps of method 800 may beperformed in another order. Subsets of the steps listed above as part ofmethod 800 may be used to form their own method. In an embodiment, therecould be multiple instances of method 800.

FIG. 9 is an example flowchart of method 900 of providing a list ofrelated web pages, where an author provides input to selecting/ranking asubset of web pages, and a search yields a first file. A first search inthe World Wide Web using a search engine provides a list of web pagesrelated to the first file in step 902. In an embodiment, the algorithmused to generate the search terms using Entrez® API automaticallyextracts noun phrases from the first file using natural languageprocessing tools and ranking them by the number of occurrences in thefile compared to the number of occurrences on the web. In an embodiment,citation-validation is used to generate the list of related web pages. Alist of inquiries is generated based on the web pages related to thefirst file in step 904. The list of inquiries includes whether each webpage listed as related web page from the search results is related tothe first file and optionally the reason for being related. In step 906,the list of inquiries is notified to one or more authors. In step 908,method 900, receives at least one response from the authors providinginformation about the relevancy of related web pages to the first fileand optionally the reason for a web page being related in the opinion ofthe author. In step 910, the related web pages are ranked based on thenumber of selections from the authors. In an embodiment, the responseincludes a ranked list of the related web pages, identifying therelevance of the related web pages to the first file. A subset of theranked web pages is selected. Information related to the subset of webpages is stored in a file storage system in step 912. Method 900 createsa hyperlink between the first file and the selected/ranked subset of webpages. The hyperlink can influence the search results in the World WideWeb when the first file is involved. Steps 904, 906, 908, 910, and 912may be similar to steps 704, 706, 708, 710 and 712.

Steps 902-912 are performed to generate a list of selected/ranked webpages that may be more relevant than the machine generated references.In an embodiment, steps 902-912 are performed once. In anotherembodiment, steps 902-912 are performed at certain fixed intervals. Inanother embodiment, events such as addition of a certain number of webpages or a manual intervention may trigger steps 902-912.

A second search in the World Wide Web using a search engine yields afirst file and the server receives a selection of the first fileidentifier in step 914. The selection of the first file can influencethe search results of future searches. The server retrieves informationabout the related web pages (stored in step 912) from the file storagesystem in step 916. In several embodiments, in step 918, informationabout the related web pages is presented to the user as shown in FIG. 2and FIG. 3. In one embodiment, the identity of the authors who selectedeach web page is revealed to the user by displaying meta-data such asthe author's name, institution, and qualifications. Steps 914, 916, and918 may be similar to steps 714, 716 and 718. Steps 914, 916, and 918are repeated for every search yielding the first file. In an embodiment,each of the steps of method 900 may be a distinct step. In otherembodiments, method 900 may not have all of the above steps and/or mayhave other steps in addition to or instead of those listed above. Thesteps of method 900 may be performed in another order. Subsets of thesteps listed above as part of method 900 may be used to form their ownmethod. In an embodiment, there could be multiple instances of method900.

Identifying Related Web Pages

One or more web pages related to a first file in the World Wide Web areidentified by server 120 or server 420 or server 520. In the describedembodiments, the first file can reside in an author system 1022, or inthe World Wide Web 1020 or in server system 1002. In severalembodiments, the related web pages are identified by natural languagesearch, or a text analysis, or from collaborative filtering, or anyother search techniques. In an embodiment, server 120 or 420 or 520extracts noun phrases from web pages in the World Wide Web using naturallanguage processing tools and ranks them by the number of occurrences inthe file compared to the number of occurrences on the web. In oneembodiment, server 620 searches the World Wide Web uses ENTREZ® API toautomatically extract noun phrases from web pages using natural languageprocessing tools and rank them by the number of occurrences in the filecompared to the number of occurrences on the web. In an embodiment,citation-validation is used to generate the list of related web pages.

In another embodiment, the PubMed “related citations” method is used toidentify the web pages or papers published after the first file in theWorld Wide Web called PubMed. On PubMed, related citations are derivedfrom text-analysis of web pages, and a ranked list of web pages that maybe related is presented to the user. For each word or term in each file,a numeric weight is computed based on the number of times the wordoccurs in the file and the number of web pages the term occurs in withinthe World Wide Web. The numeric-weight is used to find the most similarpairs of files or web pages. For any paper or file on PubMed, relatedcitations may be obtained using the ENTREZ® API when available.

Generation of List of Inquiries

In an embodiment, the list of inquiries generated by the system serverincludes one or more identified web pages related to a first file. In anembodiment, the inquiries include the search terms used in a searchusing text analysis or collaborative filtering. In another embodiment,the list of inquires includes one or more identified web pages and thenoun-phrases from the first file used to identify the web pages. In anembodiment, the list of inquiries presented to the first author includesone or more titles of related of web pages, the search term used toidentify the related web pages, the noun-phrases which are validated bytheir presence in the citations of the first file, the publication date.The list of inquiries to the second authors is influenced by a responsereceived from a first author. The list of inquiries to second authorsincludes one or more of the selection of related web pages by the firstauthor, the search terms used to identify the related file, thenoun-phases used in citation-validation techniques and the publicationdate. In an embodiment, the list of inquiries includes one or more ofthe types of relationship tags of the identified file such as whetherthe identified web pages summarizes the first file, contradicts thefirst file, or complements the first file.

In an embodiment, a questionnaire is generated to the authors of theidentified web pages. The questionnaire may contain questions whetherthe identified web page is related to the first file. The list ofinquires is notified electronically to one or more authors. Thenotification comprises at least one of an email, messaging on a socialnetwork, instant message or a web-based interface notification.

Selection and Ranking of Related Web Pages

The related web pages are ranked based on the number of selections fromthe authors. In an embodiment, a selection of the related web pages fromeach author is ranked equally. In another embodiment, selection of a webpage from the first author receives higher ranking. In anotherembodiment, selection of a web page from an author who responds toqueries more often is ranked higher. In another embodiment, selection bythe author of the identified web pages is ranked higher. In anotherembodiment, selection of a web page by the author of the first file andauthor of the web page is ranked highest. A subset of the related webpages is selected. In an embodiment, all web pages selected by theauthors are selected. In another embodiment, a certain number of theranked web pages are selected. In another embodiment, web pagesreceiving a certain rank are selected.

In an embodiment, a method of identifying web pages of the world wideweb having relevance to a first file, comprising identifying a pluralityof web pages within the world wide web, wherein the plurality of webpages each have a relationship with the first file; generating, by asystem server, a list of inquiries based on the plurality of web pages;providing, by the system server, the list of inquiries to at least oneauthor of the first file; receiving from the at least one author atleast one response to the list of inquiries; selecting a subset of theplurality of web pages based on the at least one response; storinginformation related to the selected subset of the plurality of web pagesfor access if the first file is selected.

In an embodiment, the method further comprising generating, by thesystem server, a second list of inquiries based on the plurality of webpages; providing, by the system server, the second list of inquiries toat least one second author of the plurality of web pages; receiving fromthe at least one second author of the plurality of web pages at leastone second response to the second list of inquiries; re-selecting thesubset of the plurality of web pages based on the at least one responseand the at least one second response; storing information related to there-selected subset of the plurality of web pages for access if the firstfile is selected.

In an embodiment, the method further comprising providing, by the systemserver, the selected subset of the plurality of web pages to a user thatselects the first file and identifying the at least one author to theuser as shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3. In an embodiment, a method whereinidentifying the at least one author comprises providing the user withthe at least one author's name, qualifications or institution. In anembodiment, the method further comprising providing, by the systemserver, the selected subset of the plurality of web pages to a user thatselects the first file and identifying the at least one author of thefirst file, and the at least one author of the plurality of web pages tothe user, wherein identifying the at least one author comprisesproviding the user with the at one of a name, qualifications orinstitution of the at least one author.

In an embodiment, the method further comprising providing a hyperlinkbetween the first file and the selected subset of the plurality of webpages, wherein the hyperlink influences a ranking of search results thatinclude at least one of the first file and the plurality of web pages.In an embodiment, the method wherein the plurality of web pages are eachidentified by a plurality of subject-matter searches, wherein eachsearch identifies one of the plurality of web pages and the first file.In an embodiment, a method wherein at least one of the plurality ofsubject-matter searches is refined by the at least one response. In anembodiment, a method wherein at least one of the plurality ofsubject-matter searches uses a keyword search application programminginterface to access web pages in a world wide web. In an embodiment, amethod wherein the list of inquiries includes search terms used in asearch that identified the first file and the plurality of web pages,thereby establishing a relationship between the first file and theplurality of web pages by text analysis or collaborative filtering. Inan embodiment, a method wherein the search terms comprise strings ofwords or noun phrases or author names cited by the first file. In anembodiment, a wherein the search terms comprise a term within the firstfile. In an embodiment, a method where the search is based on at leastone of a word string, an author, or an image.

In an embodiment, a method wherein the search terms are included withintext of citations of the first file. In an embodiment, a method whereineach of the plurality of web pages includes a publication date, whereineach of the publication dates is more recent than at least one of afirst revision or a last revision date of the first file. In anembodiment, a method wherein each of the plurality of web pages includesa publication date, and wherein each of the publication dates is aspecific date or a date before the specific date. In an embodiment, amethod wherein the list of inquiries includes titles of at least asubset of the plurality of web page or authors of at least a subset ofthe plurality of web pages. In an embodiment, a method wherein the atleast one author includes a first author and a second author, andwherein the list of inquiries for the first author is influenced by aresponse received from the second author. In an embodiment, a methodwherein the list of inquiries includes a relationship tag between atleast one of the plurality of web pages and the first file, in anembodiment, a method where in the relationship tag question comprises atleast one question whether the relationship of the at least one of theplurality of web pages to the first file is supportive, contradictory orsummarizing.

In an embodiment, a method wherein providing the list of inquiries tothe at least one author of the first file comprises electronicallycommunicating the list of inquires to the at least one author using anotification. In an embodiment, a method wherein the notificationcomprises at least one of an email, messaging on a social network, orinstant message. In an embodiment, a method wherein the notificationcomprises a web-based interface notification. In an embodiment, a methodwherein receiving from the at least one author at least one response tothe list of inquiries comprises receiving a selected subset of theplurality of web pages that the at least one author selects as beingrelevant to the first file.

In an embodiment, a method wherein receiving from the at least oneauthor at least one response to the list of inquiries comprisesreceiving a ranked list of at least a subset of the plurality of webpages that identifies an order of relevance of the at least the subsetof the plurality of web pages to the first file. In an embodiment, amethod comprising providing the at least one inquiry based on oneresponse to at least one other author; receiving from the at least oneother author at least one second response to the at least one response;re-selecting the subset of the plurality of web pages based on the atleast one second response; storing information related to there-selected subset of the plurality of web pages for access if the firstfile is selected. In an embodiment, a method wherein the list ofinquiries is provided to a plurality of authors, and responses receivedfrom each of the plurality of authors are compiled for selecting thesubset of the plurality of web pages. In an embodiment, a method whereina plurality of lists of inquiries are provided to a plurality ofauthors, and responses received from each of the plurality of authorsare compiled for selecting the subset of the plurality of web pages. Inan embodiment, a method further comprising the at least one authorhaving a permission to edit the first file. In an embodiment, a methodfor a server to identify web pages having relevance to a first file,comprising receiving, by the server, a plurality of web pages, whereinthe plurality of web pages were generated by a subject matter search;generating, by the server, a list of inquiries based on the plurality ofweb pages; providing, by the server, the list of inquiries to an authorof the first file, wherein the first file is a one of the plurality ofweb pages; receiving, by the server, from the author at least oneresponse to the list of inquiries; selecting, by the server, a subset ofthe plurality of web pages based on the at least one response; storing,by the server, the selected subset of the plurality of web pages foraccess if the first file is selected.

In an embodiment, a method further comprising providing, by the server,the selected subset of the plurality of web pages to a user that selectsthe first file. In an embodiment, a system for identifying web pageshaving relevance to a first file, comprising a server configured topresent on a first display a list of inquiries to an identified authorof a first file, wherein the list of inquiries is based on a pluralityof web pages; the server configured to receive from the identifiedauthor at least one response to the list of inquiries; the serverconfigured to select a subset of the plurality of web pages based on theat least one response; a server configured to present on a seconddisplay the selected subset of the plurality of web pages to a user thatselects the first file. In an embodiment, a programmable storage devicereadable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions whenexecuted by the machine to perform a method of identifying web pages ofa world wide web having relevance to a first file, the method comprisingidentifying a plurality of web pages within the world wide web, whereinthe plurality of web pages each have a relationship with the first file;generating, by a system server, a list of inquiries based on theplurality of web pages; providing, by the system server, the list ofinquiries to at least one author of the first file; receiving from theat least one author at least one response to the list of inquiries;selecting a subset of the plurality of web pages based on the at leastone response; storing information related to the selected subset of theplurality of web pages for access if the first file is selected.

In an embodiment, a method of identifying web pages in a world wide webhaving relevance to a first file, comprising: identifying a plurality ofweb pages within the world wide web, wherein the plurality of web pageseach have a relationship with the first file; generating, by a systemserver, a first list of inquiries based on the plurality of web pages;providing, by the system server, the first list of inquiries to at leastone author of the first file; receiving from the at least one author ofthe plurality of web pages at least one first response to the first listof inquiries; generating, by the system server, a second list ofinquiries based on the plurality of web pages; providing, by the systemserver, the second list of inquiries to at least one second author ofthe plurality of web pages; receiving from the at least one secondauthor of the plurality of web pages at least one second response to thesecond list of inquiries; selecting a subset of the plurality of webpages based on the at least one first response and the at least onesecond response; storing information related to the selected subset ofthe plurality of web pages for access if the first file is selected. Inan embodiment, a method wherein the information related to the selectedsubset of the plurality of web pages comprises an opinion of the atleast one author of either the first file or the plurality of web pages.In an embodiment, a method comprising providing the opinion of the atleast one author to a user that selects the first file.

System

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of system 1000, an embodiment of a systemof providing related web pages to a search result. The system consistsof server system 1002, network 1016, user system 1018, World Wide Web1020, author system 1022, and storage system for information related toselected/ranked subset of web pages 1024 among others. In otherembodiments, system 1000 may not have all of the elements or featureslisted and/or may have other elements or features instead of or inaddition to those listed.

As shown in FIG. 10, for the described embodiments, server system 1002includes processor system 1004 and memory system 1006 among others.Server system 1002 consists of on one or more servers connected to thenetwork. Server system 1002 can be a single unit, distributed in variouslocations, or virtualized. Processor system 1004 may include any one of,some of, any combination of, or all of multiple parallel processors, asingle processor, a system of processors having one or more centralprocessors and/or one or more specialized processors dedicated tospecific tasks. Also, processor system 1004 may include one or moreDigital Signal Processors (DSPs) in addition to or in place of one ormore Central Processing Units (CPUs) and/or may have one or more digitalsignal processing programs that run on one or more CPU.

Memory system 1006 may include, for example, any one of, some of, anycombination of, or all of a long-term storage system, such as a harddrive; a short-term storage system, such as random access memory; aremovable storage system, such as a floppy drive or a removable drive;and/or flash memory. Memory system 1006 may include one or moremachine-readable mediums that may store a variety of different types ofinformation. The term machine-readable medium is used to refer to anymedium capable carrying information that is readable by a machine. Oneexample of a machine-readable medium is a computer-readable medium.

In an embodiment, memory system 1006 stores code for search engine 1008,code to identify plurality of web pages 1010, code to generate a list ofinquiries/questionnaire 1012, and code to select/rank subset ofplurality of web pages 1014. Memory system 1006 stores code for searchengine 1006 to search the World Wide Web for web pages related to afirst file and returns the result to server system 1002. In thedescribed embodiments, the first file can reside in the World Wide Web1020, or author system 1022, or storage system for information relatedto selected/ranked subset of web pages 1024 or memory system 1006 or anyother storage system. In an embodiment, the search engine searches theabstract of the file. In another embodiment, the search engine searchesthe entire file for keywords. The results from the search engine areranked in order of relevancy. The relevancy may be the number of timesthe keyword appears in the file, and the number of hyperlinks.

The keywords for searching related web pages are supplied by the code toidentify plurality of web pages 1010. The keywords may be all of or someof frequently used noun phrases, the author of the first file, theauthors listed in the references cited in the first file, words from thetitle, publication date, words related to subject matter. Once theserver receives the list of web pages related to the first file, aninquiry is automatically generated by code to generate a list ofinquiries 1012 and sent to one or more authors. The list of inquiries isbased on the search results. The inquiries include the relevancy of eachof web pages listed as a related file to the first file, the reason forthe file being related to the first file. Code to select/rank subset ofplurality of web pages 1014, selects a subset of the web pages fromsearch results, stores information about the selected subset of webpages, and provides a hyperlink between the first file and the selectedsubset of web pages. Selection of web pages may also include ranking theweb pages based on the number of selection from the authors. In anembodiment, responses from different authors can have different weight.Information related to the selected/ranked subset of web pages isstored. In an embodiment, the information related to the selected/rankedsubset of web pages is stored on a storage system for informationrelated to selected/ranked subset of web pages 1024. In anotherembodiment, the information related to the selected/ranked subset of webpages is stored in memory system 1006. In another embodiment, theinformation related to the selected/ranked subset of web pages is storedin the World Wide Web. In an embodiment, a hyperlink is created betweenthe first file and the selected subset of web pages. The hyperlinkinfluences the ranking of search results by the search engine when thefirst file is involved.

Network 1016 is a network and/or combination of networks of devices thatcommunicate with one another within an enterprise or on the Internet.User system 1018 is a user device connected to the network 1016. Usersystem 1018 selects a file from the World Wide Web. The file is selectedfrom a search result or from a listing of web pages. World Wide Web 1020is a system of web pages, where the web pages may be interlinkeddocuments accesses via network 1016. All users can access the World WideWeb to read and in some cases contribute to the World Wide Web. Authorsystem 1022 is a user system in the network. In an embodiment, authorsystem 1022 has read and write access to web pages in the World WideWeb. An embodiment includes a programmable storage device (such asmemory system 1002) readable by a machine (such as, processor system1004), tangibly embodying a program of instructions when executed by themachine to perform a method of identifying web pages of a world wide webhaving relevance to a first file. The method includes identifying aplurality of web pages within the world wide web, wherein the pluralityof web pages each have a relationship with the first file, wherein theworld wide web provides a platform for sharing web pages, and whereineach web page includes a document or information resource that issuitable for the world wide web and is accessible through a web browser.The method further includes generating, by a system server, a list ofinquiries based on the plurality of web pages, providing, by the systemserver, the list of inquiries to at least one author of the first file,receiving from the at least one author at least one response to the listof inquiries, selecting a subset of the plurality of web pages based onthe at least one response, and storing information related to theselected subset of the plurality of web pages for access if the firstfile is selected.

Although specific embodiments have been described and illustrated, thedescribed embodiments are not to be limited to the specific forms orarrangements of parts so described and illustrated.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of identifying web pages of aworld wide web having relevance to a first file, comprising: identifyinga plurality of web pages within the world wide web, wherein theplurality of web pages each have a relationship with the first file,wherein the world wide web provides a platform for sharing web pages,and wherein each web page includes a document or information resourcethat is suitable for the world wide web and is accessible through a webbrowser; generating, by a system server, a list of inquiries based onthe plurality of web pages, wherein the list of inquiries includessearch terms used in a search that identified the plurality of webpages; providing, by the system server, the list of inquiries to atleast one author of the first file; receiving from the at least oneauthor at least one response to the list of inquiries; selecting asubset of the plurality of web pages based on the at least one response;storing information related to the selected subset of the plurality ofweb pages for access if the first file is selected; providing, by thesystem server, the selected subset of the plurality of web pages to auser that selects the first file; and identifying the at least oneauthor to the user.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:generating, by the system server, a second list of inquiries based onthe plurality of web pages; providing, by the system server, the secondlist of inquiries to at least one second author of the plurality of webpages; receiving from the at least one second author of the plurality ofweb pages at least one second response to the second list of inquiries;re-selecting the subset of the plurality of web pages based on the atleast one response and the at least one second response; and storinginformation related to the re-selected subset of the plurality of webpages for access if the first file is selected.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein identifying the at least one author comprises providing theuser with a name, qualifications or institution of the at least oneauthor.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: identifying the atleast one author of the plurality of web pages to the user, whereinidentifying the at least one author comprises providing the user with aname, qualifications or institution of the at least one author.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising providing a hyperlink between thefirst file and the selected subset of the plurality of web pages,wherein the hyperlink influences a ranking of search results thatinclude at least one of the first file and the plurality of web pages.6. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of web pages are eachidentified by a plurality of subject-matter searches, wherein eachsearch identifies one of the plurality of web pages and the first file.7. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one of the plurality ofsubject-matter searches is refined by the at least one response.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein at least one of the plurality ofsubject-matter searches uses a keyword search application programminginterface to access web pages in a world wide web.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, a relationship between the first file and the plurality of webpages is established by text analysis or collaborative filtering. 10.The method of claim 9, wherein the search terms comprise strings ofwords.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the search terms comprise nounphrases.
 12. The method of claim 9, wherein the search terms compriseauthor names cited by the first file.
 13. The method of claim 9, whereinthe search terms comprise a term within the first file.
 14. The methodof claim 9, the search is based on at least one of a word string, anauthor, or an image.
 15. The method of claim 9, wherein the search termsare included within text of citations of the first file.
 16. The methodof claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of web pages includes apublication date, wherein each of the publication dates is more recentthan at least one of a first revision or a last revision date of thefirst file.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality ofweb pages includes a publication date, and wherein each of thepublication dates is a specific date.
 18. The method of claim 1, whereineach of the plurality of web pages includes a publication date, andwherein each of the publication dates comprises a date before a specificdate.
 19. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of inquiries includestitles of at least a subset of the plurality of web pages.
 20. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the list of inquiries includes the at leastone author of at least a subset of the plurality of web pages.
 21. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the at least one author includes a firstauthor and a second author, and wherein the list of inquiries is for thefirst author and is influenced by a response received from the secondauthor.
 22. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of inquiriesincludes a relationship tag between at least one of the plurality of webpages and the first file.
 23. The method of claim 22, where in therelationship tag question comprises at least one question whether therelationship of the at least one of the plurality of web pages to thefirst file is supportive, contradictory or summarizing.
 24. The methodof claim 1, wherein providing the list of inquiries to the at least oneauthor of the first file comprises electronically communicating the listof inquires to the at least one author using a notification.
 25. Themethod of claim 24, wherein the notification comprises at least one ofan email, messaging on a social network, or instant message.
 26. Themethod of claim 24, wherein the notification comprises a web-basedinterface notification.
 27. The method of claim 1, wherein receivingfrom the at least one author at least one response to the list ofinquiries comprises receiving a selected subset of the plurality of webpages that the at least one author selects as being relevant to thefirst file.
 28. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving from the atleast one author at least one response to the list of inquiriescomprises receiving a ranked list of at least a subset of the pluralityof web pages that identifies an order of relevance of the at least thesubset of the plurality of web pages to the first file.
 29. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: providing the list of inquiries based onone response to at least one other author; receiving from the at leastone other author at least one second response to the at least oneresponse; re-selecting the subset of the plurality of web pages based onthe at least one second response; and storing information related to there-selected subset of the plurality of web pages for access if the firstfile is selected.
 30. The method of claim 1, wherein the list ofinquiries is provided to a plurality of authors, and responses receivedfrom each of the plurality of authors are compiled for selecting thesubset of the plurality of web pages.
 31. The method of claim 1, whereina plurality of lists of inquiries are provided to a plurality ofauthors, and responses received from each of the plurality of authorsare compiled for selecting the subset of the plurality of web pages. 32.The method of claim 1, further comprising the at least one author havinga permission to edit the first file.
 33. A method for a server toidentify web pages having relevance to a first file, comprising:receiving, by the server, a plurality of web pages, wherein theplurality of web pages were generated by a subject matter search;generating, by the server, a list of inquiries based on the plurality ofweb pages; providing, by the server, the list of inquiries to an authorof the first file, wherein the first file is a one of the plurality ofweb pages, wherein the list of inquiries includes search terms used inthe subject search that identified the plurality of web pages;receiving, by the server, from the author at least one response to thelist of inquiries; selecting, by the server, a subset of the pluralityof web pages based on the at least one response; storing, by the server,the selected subset of the plurality of web pages for access if thefirst file is selected; providing, by the system server, the selectedsubset of the plurality of web pages to a user that selects the firstfile; and identifying the author to the user.
 34. The method of claim33, further comprising providing, by the server, the selected subset ofthe plurality of web pages to a user that selects the first file.
 35. Asystem for identifying web pages having relevance to a first file,comprising: a server configured to present on a first display a list ofinquiries to an identified author of a first file, wherein the list ofinquiries is based on a plurality of web pages, and wherein the list ofinquiries includes search terms used in a search that identified theplurality of web pages; the server configured to receive from theidentified author at least one response to the list of inquiries; theserver configured to select a subset of the plurality of web pages basedon the at least one response; a server configured to provide on a seconddisplay the selected subset of the plurality of web pages to a user thatselects the first file; and identifying the identified author to theuser.
 36. A programmable storage device readable by a machine, tangiblyembodying a program of instructions when executed by the machine toperform a method of identifying web pages of a world wide web havingrelevance to a first file, the method comprising: identifying aplurality of web pages within the world wide web, wherein the pluralityof web pages each have a relationship with the first file, wherein theworld wide web provides a platform for sharing web pages, and whereineach web page includes a document or information resource that issuitable for the world wide web and is accessible through a web browser;generating, by a system server, a list of inquiries based on theplurality of web pages, wherein the list of inquiries includes searchterms used in a search that identified the plurality of web pages;providing, by the system server, the list of inquiries to at least oneauthor of the first file; receiving from the at least one author atleast one response to the list of inquiries; selecting a subset of theplurality of web pages based on the at least one response; and storinginformation related to the selected subset of the plurality of web pagesfor access if the first file is selected; providing the selected subsetof the plurality of web pages to a user that selects the first file; andidentifying the at least one author to the user.
 37. A method ofidentifying web pages in a world wide web having relevance to a firstfile, comprising: identifying a plurality of web pages within the worldwide web, wherein the plurality of web pages each have a relationshipwith the first file, wherein the world wide web provides a platform forsharing web pages, and wherein each web page includes a document orinformation resource that is suitable for the world wide web and isaccessible through a web browser; generating, by a system server, afirst list of inquiries based on the plurality of web pages, wherein thelist of inquiries includes search terms used in a search that identifiedthe plurality of web pages; providing, by the system server, the firstlist of inquiries to at least one author of the first file; receivingfrom the at least one author of the plurality of web pages at least onefirst response to the first list of inquiries; generating, by the systemserver, a second list of inquiries based on the plurality of web pages;providing, by the system server, the second list of inquiries to atleast one second author of the plurality of web pages; receiving fromthe at least one second author of the plurality of web pages at leastone second response to the second list of inquiries; selecting a subsetof the plurality of web pages based on the at least one first responseand the at least one second response; storing information related to theselected subset of the plurality of web pages for access if the firstfile is selected; providing the selected subset of the plurality of webpages to a user that selects the first file; and identifying the atleast one author or the at least one second author to the user.
 38. Themethod of claim 37, wherein the information related to the selectedsubset of the plurality of web pages comprises an opinion of the atleast one author of either the first file or the plurality of web pages.39. The method of claim 37, further comprises providing the opinion ofthe at least one author to a user that selects the first file.